


In The Tube

by IRegretNothingAndEverything



Series: Tommy is of the stars, Benrey of the void, Bubby of the tube, and Coomer of the enhanced. Gordon? Gordon's along for the ride. [2]
Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Bubby In The Tube, Bubby sees people upset and goes 'time to take care of them' as if he's not missing skin, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, What He Gonna Do, but still better safe than sorry, i do mention his injuries a bit but not a lot, nothing really he's healing, slight gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25808134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IRegretNothingAndEverything/pseuds/IRegretNothingAndEverything
Summary: Various times Bubby woke up in his tube while healing.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)
Series: Tommy is of the stars, Benrey of the void, Bubby of the tube, and Coomer of the enhanced. Gordon? Gordon's along for the ride. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871698
Comments: 7
Kudos: 235





	In The Tube

**Author's Note:**

> I love this verse a lot. Like, an insane amount. Bubby healing is something that needed to be done, cause he's a lil fucked up by everything. Nothing too graphic i think, but let me know if I need any tags that I didn't have.

The first time Bubby woke up, he felt numb. He couldn’t open his eyes for some reason, and he was floating. Why was he back in his tube? That didn’t make sense, he was sure it had been destroyed back in Black Mesa. Unless... that was- 

“Bubby dear, it’s alright, I’m right here.” Barely, just barely, he shifted, his head moving towards the sound of Harold’s voice. “Yes, dear, there you are. It’s alright. I’m sure it’s a bit... disorienting being back, but it was for the best.” 

Why though? He didn’t want to be back in here. Nothing of that sort made sense. What happened? 

He managed to open his eyes, just a bit, squinting through to Harold, who smiled at him, one arm tucked behind his back. “There you are love. Now, I want you to keep your eyes on me for the time, alright?” 

Well... seemed easy enough. Bubby could handle that much. It felt hard to nod, but he managed a small one, squinting at Harold. 

“Good! So... I’m sorry to say you may be in there for a bit. G-Man did a number on you.” Bubby let his eyes slip closed, having just meant to blink, but not having the energy to open his eyes again. 

Memories filtered back, slowly, but hazy, and Bubby had no clue what exactly happened. Fire couldn’t hurt him, but whatever the hell G-Man did could. God he was tired. 

“Go back to sleep, love.” He heard Harold, but it was distant, and Bubby gladly slipped off again. 

* * *

The next time he woke up, Bubby was a bit more coherent. He lifted his head again, managing to open his eyes properly on the second try. He glanced around, but didn’t see Harold. 

“Hey.” 

His head moved slower than he would have liked, but when he looked towards the side, he saw Benrey, one hand up in a wave. 

“Uh... Dr. Coomer’s off with Tommy, gettin his arm fixed. Gordon went with so that, uh, he could start the process. Promised I wouldn’t leave in case you woke up.” Benrey grinned at him, moving over closer towards the tube. “Healing up nice, though I... still wouldn’t recommend looking down.” 

Bubby narrowed his eyes at Benrey slightly, who took a step back, hands up. “Dr. Coomer’s orders dude, not mine. He’s worried about you getting freaked out.” 

He tilted his head slightly, then slowly lifted a hand. If Bubby couldn’t look down, he could bring his hand up, and... 

Well, apparently he was wrong on that account. It felt stiff moving his arm, and there was a shot of red hot pain when he tried to bend his elbow. Bubby gave up on that plan pretty quickly, and stared towards Benrey quietly. 

Benrey stared back for a moment, before sighing. “You know, I really wish that we could talk better like this.... Wanna know a bit of what I know happened?” 

Bubby blinked, before nodding carefully. Benrey grinned at him, sitting down in front of the tube facing him. 

“So, first things first, Gordon broke G-Man’s nose.” Bubby snorted, then winced softly, and Benrey frowned at him. “Careful now.” Bubby sent a glare towards him. Yeah, obviously he had to be careful, that fucking hurt. “Hey, don’t glare at me, Coomer’s the one super worried about you hurting.” Bubby rolled his eyes slightly. That did sound like his husband. 

Speaking of... getting his arm fixed? Bubby knew that must’ve happened after he got knocked out, since from the hazy memories he had, Harold had been fine. He made a noise, and Benrey frowned at him. “Hey uh... try and look at me for a second.” 

Bubby sighed softly, focusing his eyes on Benrey, who seemed to stare just past them, before sweet voice slipped free from around his teeth, and Benrey glanced around at it, tilting his head. “Hm. Well, uh, Coomer’s alright. Just had to fix one of his arms, cause G-Man partially like... crushed it. Tommy said it would be alright, though, and I trust him.” Bubby trusted him too, so he simply nodded once, blinking slowly. 

“Anyways, uh, me and Tommy weren’t there for whatever went down with you, so you’ll have to ask Coomer when he comes back, but we were there afterwards, and Tommy...” Bubby wondered why Benrey was getting quieter, but faintly realized, no, that wasn’t Benrey drifting off. It was him. 

* * *

He woke in a panic this time, whining lowly at the memories of pain that flashed through his head, and Bubby forced his eyes open, darting around to take everything in. 

Benrey was sleeping against the wall, curled up in a ball, back pressed against Gordon, who had an arm around him. Gordon seemed awake, and he was watching Bubby as he made eye contact with him. “Hey Bubby... Coomer should be coming in in a moment, alright?” 

He sounded so soft, and for a moment, Bubby was offended, before he remembered that apparently he was horribly injured. Harold wouldn’t have put him back in here if he wasn’t. Bubby sighed softly, eyes darting around the room. Both Tommy and Harold were gone, but Sunkist was laying near his tube, breathing heavy. He looked back to Gordon, then towards Sunkist. 

“Oh, Sunkist? She’s alright. G-Man did something to her, we’re still not entirely sure what it was, but she’s been having some trouble breathing here and there, usually when she’s sleeping. She should be alright though, Tommy and Benrey are watching that.” God, G-Man was just a bastard wasn’t he. Bubby felt himself snarl, and to his surprise, Gordon laughed. 

“Dude, you know you’re actually kinda scary? Before G-Man did whatever the fuck he did, Tommy still refuses to say, you were rabid.” Bubby blinked at him. From what he pieced together in his sleep, he had been protecting Harold and Gordon, so why was Gordon so surprised by that. “I mean, yeah, Coomer was there, so I guess you were protecting your husband.” 

Bubby made a noise, starting at him. Gordon looked up at him. “What is it.” He shifted a bit, his hand hurt to move, but still, he did his best to point towards Gordon. “Me?” Bubby nodded, letting his hand drop again. “I mean, I was there-” Bubby snarled at him again, and Gordon blinked. “Okay, okay. So it wasn’t just Coomer. I get it.” 

Good. Bastard needed to care about himself more. Bubby shifted slightly, hissing softly in pain that disappeared again as he relaxed again, slightly more comfortable, though sleeping floating in a tube was never comfortable, not when compared to Harold. 

Speak, or rather, think, of the devil, and he shall appear. Harold slipped into the room, his left arm missing. Bubby frowned at it, and Harold just smiled up at him. “Bubby, you’re awake! Don’t you worry about this, Tommy’s dealing with it, he just needed a better range around it, so it was better to disconnect it for awhile.” Bubby glanced back towards the door, realizing Tommy had not followed Harold in. “He’s fine. Asked to be alone, though...” Harold moved over to Sunkist, his hand petting down her back. She lifted her head at him, panting softly. “Go to Tommy for a bit, alright dear?” and she stood, shaking herself out and walked out of the room. 

Bubby watched this quietly, blinking slowly. He didn’t want to fall back asleep, but Jesus whatever G-Man had done to him must’ve been bad. He didn’t often sleep this much. Harold smiled at him, pressing his hand against the glass of the tube. Bubby shifted slightly, as if he was going to bring his hand up, but it hurt again, so he stopped, eyes closing. “We’ll still be here when you wake up, my love.” 

And so, he let himself drift again, trusting Harold that he would not be alone. 

* * *

Tommy and Sunkist were the only ones there next time, and Bubby focused in on his back, eyes narrowed. He was leaning against the tube, eyes closed, with Sunkist across his lap. He looked peaceful, if not for the slightly glowing tears in his face. Bubby made some sort of noise, hoping to get Tommy’s attention, and it worked, though Tommy began to wipe at his face. 

“Hey, you’re awake!” His voice shook, and Bubby made a soft noise at him, questioning, hopefully comfort, though Bubby knew he was never any good at that. “No, no, I’m fine, just... Well, you weren’t awake for this bit, but I had to uh, had to atomically destroy my father, which... kinda takes a toll on someone, you know?” Bubby didn’t, not really, he didn’t understand the significance of having a father, but he nodded anyways. “Yeah, it... kinda sucks. He’s uh... not dead, not really, but it’s gonna take him years to get back to normal, so hopefully he’ll have some time to think about everything.” He smiled up at Bubby, and Bubby smiled back. 

“Well uh... You feeling better? How much can you move your hands?” Tommy asked, and Bubby frowned slightly, slowly clenching his hands. It hurt, with his hands half-way to fists, so he stopped and let his hand relax, before straightening out his fingers. There was a twinge there, but it didn’t hurt as much. “Good! That’s really good!” Tommy grinned up at him, and Bubby couldn’t help but keep smiling at him. 

“Okay, uh, arms?” Bubby shifted slightly, slowly bending his elbows. This didn’t hurt nearly was much as it did the first time, as he slowly moved his arms around. He caught a glimpse of his hands, and froze. His skin looked... weird. “Don’t worry about that.” His head turned towards Tommy. “It’s gonna look a bit weird since it’s all new, but at least you have it.” That... told Bubby a lot. 

They worked slowly, getting through to find what still hurt, what could move, and Tommy grinned at him. “Well, this is all generally on track with what Dr. Coomer said, so that’s good!” Bubby smiled softly, nodding slowly. God that just exhausted him, and he wasn’t even holding his own weight. 

“Wanna go back to sleep?” Bubby looked up at him, getting his eyes for a moment before flicking them up to Tommy’s forehead for his comfort. “I’ll be alright. I’ve got Sunkist! It’s just a lot to deal with. Go back to sleep, Dr. Bubby.” 

Bubby sighed softly, closing his eyes, and was asleep seconds after. 

* * *

Harold had his arm back when Bubby woke again, and it looked to be in working order. He looked fresh out of the shower, hair still dripping onto the towel draped on his shoulders, and Bubby grinned slightly, managing to move closer to the glass of the tube, pressing a hand against it and tapping. Harold looked over from watching Benrey teach Gordon something, though the sweet voice surrounding the two of them gave enough context clues, and moved over, pressing a hand against the glass, lining up with Bubby’s

“Morning love, You’ve been waking up more often now, which is good! You might be able to get out of the tube soon!” Bubby grinned at that. He really wanted to hug Harold. “You feeling better?” 

Bubby drew his hands back slowly, hands shaking a bit as he signed slowly for Harold. _Better. Stiff. Still tired._

“Well, I’m not surprised you’re gonna be a bit stiff, new muscle needs some time to work out again.” Bubby nodded slightly, stretching his hands out again, slowly curling and uncurling his fists. “Regrowing this much is tiring I’m sure. It’s good to be sleeping, so you’ve got the energy for it.” Bubby raised an eyebrow, lifting his arms, were he could faintly feel the various IVs connected. Harold laughed softly. “Alright, I get it, I get it.” Bubby grinned, lighting up at the laughter. 

“Hey Coomer.” Harold glanced over, seeing Gordon looking at him, sweet voice bubbling out of his mouth. “I meant to ask you think and I keep forgetting, but... since you two are married, and Bubby doesn’t have a last name as far as I know, does that mean technically you both are Coomer now?” 

Harold paused, then nodded. “I guess so. I mean, I’m sure you know my name is Harold, but if you want to keep calling me Coomer, I doubt Bubby is going to respond to it!” 

“He’s using you to not try and control the sweet voice.” Benrey teased, and Gordon shoved him. Bubby snickered softly, the noise shifting through the liquid and the tube, and Harold just beamed at him. 

Bubby fell asleep as Gordon and Benrey argued playfully, and Coomer sat down next to the tube to watch and commentate. 

* * *

It was nearly a month of being in the tube before he was allowed out again. He stood carefully in the middle as the drained it, breathing slowly and deeply, and Harold was the one to step in to start removing IVs, smiling softly at him. The moment Bubby was free, he wrapped his arms around Harold, sinking into his embrace. 

“Alright love, it’s alright.” Bubby grinned into his shoulder, shaking a bit. God he had missed this. Behind Harold, Tommy grinned, bouncing on his feet. 

“Come on! We’re gonna, we’re gonna watch a movie, and it’s gonna be better with you there!” Bubby grinned, taking a careful step and almost falling. Harold slipped an arm around his waist, and Bubby held onto his shoulders. Tommy came up on his other side, but didn’t touch him, not yet, and slowly, the three of them shuffled into the other room, the lights in the tube finally going out. 

**Author's Note:**

> Im soft! for this tube bastard!


End file.
